It was another fabulous day at Publix so I decided to make another little video.
Here is what I got:
At Publix I spent $0.17 for $126.77 worth of groceries, a savings of 99.99%
With one $5 off coupon left to scan, my total was only $3.79, which meant that it wouldn’t work. I quickly added a travel pack of Wet Ones to put me over the top. It was the first time I’ve ever had to add more in order to spend less.
Grocery Breakdown: (1) $5 off $30 purchase (Winn Dixie Weekly Sales Flyer) 2 Marie’s Dressing, 11.5oz, BOGO @ – $3.29 (2) $1/1 Marie’s Product printable Final price: $0.64 each 2 Pace Chunky Salsa, 16oz jar BOGO @ – $2.79 (1) $0.60/2 Pace Picante Sauce, exp. 4-30-11 (RP 01/30/11 #2) Final price: $1.09 each 2 Tostitos Family Size, BOGO @ – $4.99 (2) $1/1 Tostitos Tortilla Chips (Publix Yellow Advantage Flyer) Final price: $1.49 each 24 Voskos Greek Yogurt – $1.00 (24) $1/1 Voskos Greek Yogurt (RP 4/10/11) Final price: FREE 2 New York Texas Toast @ 50% off $2.89 (2) $0.40/1 New York Brand Frozen Product, exp. 6-5-11 (SS 03/06/11) Final price: $1.04 3 Old El Paso Taco Shells – $1.25 (1) FREE Old El Paso Seasoning wyb (2) Old El Paso Items (Peelie) $1/3 Old El Paso Products (GM Spring Booklet) Final price: $0.92 each + FREE seasoning (with both Qs) 6 Gas X Prevention, 20ct – $4.39 (6) $4/1 Gas-X Prevention Product, exp. 4-30-11 (SS 12/12/10) (3) $5/2 Ex-lax, Benefiber, Maalox, Gas-X or Prevacid (Publix Green Adv.) Final price: FREE + $2.11 profit each 2 Gas X, 10 ct – $2.49 (1) $5/2 Ex-lax, Benefiber, Maalox, Gas-X or Prevacid products (Publix Green Advantage Flyer) (2) $1/1 Gas-X Product, exp. 7-16-11 (SS 04/17/11 #2) or (SS 01/09/11) Final price: FREE + $2 profit wyb 2 2 Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread, BOGO @ – $2.00 Final price: $1.00 1 Wet Ones Travel Pack (regular price @ 1.29)_________________________________________
Combined with my Monday shopping trip, this week I spent a total of $6.00 (exactly!) for $370.35 worth of groceries and drugstore merchandise, an average savings of 98% for the week. (My best week ever!)
________________________________________
Now it’s your turn! Seeing others’ examples is one of the best ways to learn new couponing strategies, hints, and hot deals. If you have a blog, pleas link up your coupon savings here. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to share your shopping experiences in a comment below.
Affiliate links may be used in this post. Printing a coupon or ordering a product through this link may result in a commission, which helps pay for the cost of running this site and keeps the content free. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Debi April 28, 2011 at 8:21 pm
Love Greek yogurt too! Should consider buying coupons when I see them at a really low price. Love watching your videos! Do you edit the videos with a software on your mac? They are really good quality! Great savings!
Ruth April 28, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Thanks Debi! Yes, I use iMovie on my Mac to edit them, and my video camera is just one of those little Flip cameras.
Debi @ Bluegrass Savers April 29, 2011 at 1:10 am
Very nice! I was thinking it was probably something more hi-tech. They come out pretty well.
Cheryl @ Simply CVS April 28, 2011 at 8:34 pm
I so wish we had a Publix nearby. Love your videos.
Ruth April 28, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Thanks Cheryl!
Melissa April 28, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Is the coupons in the yellow advantage flyer state the correct size for the tostitos family size?
Ruth April 28, 2011 at 9:49 pm
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t check the size on the coupon so I’m not sure. It worked without issue both today and Monday, so I would assume so.
Laura @ Frugal Follies April 28, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Amazing! I totally missed the moneymaker for Gas-X. And thankfully, I still have the 12/12 inserts (usually I would have thrown out my copies by now). I’m going to do that deal tomorrow and use the overage to buy some meat. Thanks for showing me how to do it!
Ruth April 28, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Yay! I was practically giddy at all the extra money I had to spend today!
Rebekah April 28, 2011 at 11:53 pm
On the yogurts – the voskos ones, you got 24, did you have 24 Red Plums? Or are you aloud to make copies of that coupon? I am confused as to how to get that many coupons.
Ruth April 28, 2011 at 11:57 pm
No, you’re not allowed to make copies. I really like that yogurt so ordered them from a coupon clipping service. I explained a little more about it on the video. Hope that helps!
Ashley April 29, 2011 at 12:34 am
I get so frustrated when I go into the grocery store that I end up forgetting stuff. How do you match your coupons up with all of the stuff and know the sales in the store? I feel like i am going to have to buy like 15 sunday papers to ever had enough to actually save BIG money!
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I use the matchups at my sister site, http://www.savingwellspendingless.com to make my lists. To do well with coupons you really need to plan your trips well, based on what is on sale that week. You make your lists, gather your coupons, then head to the store with a game plan. It takes time to buildup a stockpile, so you need to be patient with yourself and your savings. It is a process, not an instant solution!
As far as coupons are concerned, you definitely don’t have to buy 15 papers. Start with 2 or 4 each week and start building up a decent coupon supply. Again, it is a cumulative process. Have you started the Beginner’s Guide to Coupons yet? (Above, under Coupons 101) It really helps break down the steps.
I know when you see a shopping results post like this or watch Extreme Couponing on TLC, it is hard to be patient, but you have to know that it took me (and the people on that show) a long time to get to the point of extreme savings we are at now. You CAN get there, but you have to work at it consistently each week.
Hope that helps!
Korrie April 29, 2011 at 1:03 am
Just wanted to leave a comment saying a few things. First of all, I just found you 2 days ago and you have already totally changed my way of thinking about grocery shopping. I am in rural Ohio and don’t have the luxury of so many choices of grocery stores, I feel I still can learn alot that will help me save money. With that said, I would definitely be interested in an online couponing class. You could count me in on that. Thanks for all you do, Ruth.
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:34 pm
You’re welcome. I’m so glad you found LWSL!
Jessica April 29, 2011 at 4:24 am
I’m new to couponing and am excited to get started with it. Thanks for your wonderful videos!
A couple of quick questions… could you pleeeease add HEB to your grocery store match-ups? 
Also, do you always buy products that give you an overage and if so, what do you do with them if it’s not something you’ll actually use?
Jessica Rockwell April 29, 2011 at 4:46 am
I had no idea that Publix would take the Winn Dixie $5 off $30! I go to the Publix in North Port so I am going to call and see which competitor’s coupons they accept. One question,do you know if all Publix stores apply the overage or if they manually just lower the price? Thanks for the awesome video!
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:36 pm
They don’t manually lower the price. They just enter the coupons like any other shopping trip. Because the combo of the store Q + MQ is lower than the price, it becomes a moneymaker that gets applied to the rest of your order. However, if your total gets lower than the coupon that is being scanned, they can’t enter it in. Hope that helps!
Jessica Rockwell April 29, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Yeah I understand that,I guess I’ll have to be ready to grab a magazine or something if that happens haha
Mara April 29, 2011 at 1:23 pm
I have a question. I see that you stated you had moneymakers. I live in Central Florida and when I go to my Publix they say they have to bring the coupon down to the amount of the item. I have never had where I have a money maker. Does it depend on the type of coupons I am using? Or how they are paired up?
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:38 pm
My Publix store does not do this, but each Publix is a little different. In this particular case, the cost of the regular Gas X was less than the total of the store Q, but it still worked. Then the 2 additional $1 MQs made it an even better moneymaker. Does that help answer your question?
Jessica Rockwell April 29, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I guess it’s YMMV thing and I’ll have to test this at my store!
Sally S April 29, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Hi Ruth,
I left this post on your facebook page, but hadn’t seen a response. I know last time I posted here, you got right back to me. Thanks for your help by the way!
In watching your video on stockpiling I see that you have lots of paper towels and toilet paper. What is the best price these can be gotten for? I know that CVS has good deals with ECB and coupons. I was wondering if the stockpile comes from that or some other way to score these items at even lower prices. Any input would be appreciated.
On another note, I went to Publix last night and got $110 in groceries for about $60. SO much fun! Thanks for all the great info and for taking the time to do this
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Hi Sally–I was actually planning on doing a “rock bottom price” post next week Wednesday with a whole list of prices to shoot for. For paper towels, I usually shoot for $0.50-$0.75 a roll (less for the “cheap” stuff, a little more for the “mega” rolls.) For TP, I am generally happy with $0.25-$0.50 a roll (again less for the single rolls & more for “mega” rolls.) I hope that helps!
Sally S April 29, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Yes, it does. Thanks! I’m looking forward to that post next week.
Ruth April 29, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Oh, and great job on your savings!
JRFrugalMom April 29, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Wow, that is impressive! I just went to find those Gas X coupons, and I did find 8, but I doubt the Publix I am going to will let me do the deal with the overage. It’s worth a shot though.
I would like to invite you to link up your savings at the Weekly Savings Linky @ Frugality Is Free .
Ruth April 30, 2011 at 11:01 am
Since the overage comes from the combination of the MQ & Store Q it should hopefully be fine.
Running Mama April 29, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Trouble is adorable…can she spend the summer with me?
Have a fab weekend, I love seeing your video’s makes me feel like you’re right here.
Ruth April 30, 2011 at 10:59 am
Sure, if you don’t mind having every cupboard in your house emptied on a daily basis. Yesterday she dumped out an entire (almost full) box of cereal on the floor, then found a bag of dog treats and proceeded to feed the entire bag, one by one, to our chocolate lab. Not surprisingly, the dog is finally starting to warm up to her.
Jennifer April 30, 2011 at 2:39 am
I want a trouble!!! Is she on sale?!!! I just love her!
Ruth April 30, 2011 at 10:56 am
LOL, life is never boring with her around, I can tell you that much!
(But I’m keeping her.)